Netherlands: Penal-Welfarism and Risk Management (From: Comparative Youth Justice, P 65-78, 2006, John Muncie and Barry Goldson, eds., -- See NCJ-216868)

• NCJ Number: 216873
• Author(s): Jolande uit Beijerse; Rene van Swaaningen
• Date Published: 2006
• Length: 14 pages
• Sale Source: Sage Publications Ltd
• Publication Format: Book (Softbound)
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Analysis
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom

Annotation

This chapter presents a critical analysis of juvenile justice developments in the Netherlands.

Abstract

The author traces the history of juvenile justice in the Netherlands and analyzes the way in which current juvenile justice policy has expanded the use of juvenile detention and targeted ethnic minority youth. The Children Act of 1905 ushered in a 90-year period in which juvenile justice policy was largely governed by the belief that juvenile offenders should be protected and re-educated. It was not until 1995 that the “protection of society” replaced these guiding principles. In the early 1990s, juvenile justice policy was heavily influenced by the Van Montfrans committee, which favored early intervention. A series of policy reforms strengthened police powers, expanded juvenile detention capacity, and developed a monitoring system for high risk youth. During 2003 through 2006, the new populist Right-wing cabinet put forth a special action program on juvenile delinquency that emphasized managing the “psycho-social” risk factors leading to delinquency. Such a focus led to the targeting of ethnic minority communities, which have a long history of exclusion within Dutch society. Indeed, the Netherlands actually focused on the ethnic minority status of youth as a causal factor in delinquency engagement. As a consequence, ethnic minority youth are overrepresented at every stage of the juvenile justice process in the Netherlands. The use of community sanctions in the Netherlands is discussed, which formally emerged in the form of the program HALT in 1981. The idea behind HALT was that low-level juvenile offenders should be put to work repairing the harm they caused, such as cleaning graffiti and repairing vandalism. While HALT and similar programming continues with success in the Netherlands, juvenile offenders are being incarcerated in increasing numbers, seemingly governed by the 1905 belief that juvenile offenders can and should be re-educated in a detention setting. References